Robert Knox (surgeon)

Robert Knox, who lived from 1791 to 1862, was a Scottish anatomist and ethnologist born in Edinburgh and best known for his involvement in the Burke and Hare murders. After army service as a hospital assistant, including the care of wounded men from the Battle of Waterloo, he returned to Edinburgh, became curator of the Museum of Comparative Anatomy of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and partnered with his former teacher John Barclay to lecture on anatomy, where he introduced the theory of transcendental anatomy. His incautious methods of obtaining cadavers for dissection before the Anatomy Act 1832, and disagreements with professional colleagues, ruined his reputation in Scotland, and a move to London did not revive his career. In later years he wrote on evolution and ethnology and published works advocating scientific racism, which further harmed his legacy.